The invention concerns, a method for the production of decorative labels and the decorative labels themselves, which can be obtained according to this method.
A common method for the production of decorative labels consists of placing an embossing film on a substrate, using pressure and/or heat. Here, an embossing film capable of transferring heat and containing a carrier layer, a separation layer, one or more decorative layers, and a melt adhesive layer, is generally first applied on a substrate, which comprises a separation paper, an adhesive layer, and a plastic film, in such a way that the melt adhesive layer of the embossing film and the plastic film of the substrate face one another.
In a second step, the above combination consisting of an embossing film and substrate is embossed with a heated stamp, whose stamp area bears a certain motif and exhibits raised edges in comparison to the interior of the stamp area and acts on the carrier layer of the embossing film, so that within the stamp area, the embossing film and substrate are bonded to one another via the melt adhesive layer. The edges of the stamp area act simultaneously like a punching line, wherein during the embossing process in the area of the edges, the separation layer, decorative layer(s), and melt adhesive layer of the embossing film--and the plastic film and adhesive layer of the substrate are fused and punched through.
The carrier layer of the embossing film is subsequently removed, wherein the parts of the embossing film that are not bonded to the substrate are also removed from it.
Finally, the parts of the plastic film and the adhesive layer of the substrate that lie outside the confines of the stamp motif (stamp area) are removed.
The method of the aforementioned type is, for example, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,088.
The plastic film used in the substrate, as a rule, consists of colored polyvinyl chloride (PVC), wherein an aluminum film can also be provided between the adhesive film of the substrate and the PVC film.
A plastic film made of polyvinyl chloride, however is no longer desired because of concerns having to do with environmental protection and because of health hazards due to plasticizers that are eventually present in the polyvinyl chloride or residual monomers of vinyl chloride, so that there is an urgent need to replace the PVC film in decorative labels, which are frequently handled by children in particular. Here, however, there is a problem to the effect that until now, no plastic material is known, aside from PVC, that is suitable for the hot embossing process of the aforementioned type because of its heat-resistance capability and its melt behavior.